The U.S. Department of Justice’s Western District of Washington State Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday that a former Army staff sergeant stationed at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State pleaded guilty in a federal court in Seattle to attempting to transmit national defense secrets to China and unlawfully possessing national defense secrets.
The federal acting U.S. attorney Teal Luthy Miller stated in court that 31-year-old Joseph Daniel Schmidt admitted to charges of attempting to transmit national defense secrets and unlawfully possessing national defense secrets. He is set to be sentenced by Judge John C. Coughenour on September 9, 2025, facing up to ten years in prison.
According to court records, Schmidt served at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, specifically in the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion, from January 2015 to January 2020 before being promoted to the rank of Army staff sergeant.
He served as an intelligence collector in a Human Intelligence (HUMINT) unit and later became the team leader responsible for overseeing intelligence collection operations, report writing, analysis, and dissemination of information.
During his service, he had access to information classified as “SECRET” and “TOP SECRET.”
On January 8, 2020, he completed his active duty and transitioned to the reserves. Six days later, on January 14, he traveled to Beijing, China, returning to the U.S. on January 18.
On February 9, 2020, he departed the U.S. for Istanbul, Turkey. While there, he conducted online searches related to defecting from the U.S. and researched countries without extradition treaties with the U.S.
Court records revealed his admission of guilt regarding the following incidents:
On February 24, 2020, he sent an email to the Chinese consulate in Istanbul stating his intention to share information he acquired during interrogation work with the Chinese government, boasting of his security clearance and experiences in interrogation training and espionage activities.
In March 2020, he traveled to Hong Kong in ongoing attempts to provide confidential military information to Chinese intelligence agencies through detailed documents outlining what he deemed as “high-level secrets.”
On March 19, he took photos of both sides of his military PKI card, an encryption certificate accessing the U.S. “SECRET Network.” Three days later, on March 22, he emailed a state-owned enterprise affiliated with the Chinese government inquiring about how to transfer the key card to enhance Chinese access to sensitive U.S. information.
In July 2020, he contacted another state-owned enterprise related to the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, expressing his desire to leverage his knowledge of advanced U.S. intelligence technology to assist the company and seeking employment opportunities in China.
Schmidt resided primarily in China, particularly Hong Kong, from 2020 until his return to the U.S. in October 2023, where he was arrested at San Francisco International Airport.
The charges of attempting to transmit national defense secrets and unlawfully possessing national defense secrets carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI led the investigation in this case, with crucial support from the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command. The prosecution was handled by federal prosecutor Todd Greenberg.